The Current Structure of the Ichthyocene on the Continental Shelf’s Outer Edge and Upper Slope of the Northern Kuril Islands and Southeastern Kamchatka

Abstract

A bottom trawl survey was conducted in August and September 2018 at the outer edge of the continental shelf and the upper part of the Pacific slope of the northern Kuril Islands and southeastern Kamchatka, between 48° and 52° N, at depths of 100–1000 m. Biomass and abundance of all caught fish species were calculated using the obtained data. A total of 121 species were recorded, including 98 demersal and 23 pelagic and anadromous fishes; their total stock amounted to 406 000 t. The stock estimates of the common fish species were compared with the values inferred from analogous surveys in summer 1989 and spring 2009; a comparison of the bathymetric distribution of species between 2018 and 2009 was also carried out.